 Map of Kurdistan courtesy of The General Libraries, The University of Texas at Austin - For the Iranian province of Kordestan, please see Kordestan (province).
Kurdistan is an area in the Middle East, inhabited mainly by the Kurds, covering parts of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, Georgia and Syria. Its borders are hard to define, as none of the states in question acknowledge Kurdistan as a demographic or geographical region, but it is generally held to include those regions with large Kurdish populations. According to one account it includes 25 million people in a 190,000 km2 (74,000 mile2) area1. The province of Kurdistan in Iran and the Kurdish Autonomous Region in Iraq are both in the area generally considered Kurdistan.
Kurds were first promised an independent nation-state in the 1920 Treaty of Sevres, which divided the former Ottoman Empire among the United Kingdom, Turkey, and others, and gave independence to Armenia. However this promise was revoked in 1923. Since that time Kurdish nationalists have continued to seek independence in an area approximating that identified at Sevres.
History
Before World War I, most Kurds lived within the boundaries of the Ottoman Empire. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the Allies created several countries within its former boundaries. Originally Kurdistan, along with Armenia was to be one of them, according to the Treaty of Sèvres. However, the reconquest of these areas by Kemal Atatürk and other pressing issues caused the Allies to accept the renegotiated Treaty of Lausanne, giving this territory to Turkey and leaving the Kurds without a self-ruled region. Other Kurdish areas were assigned to the new states of Iraq and Syria under both treaties. These boundaries were drawn with more concern for the division of oil resources and influence between different colonial powers and for rewarding pro-Allied Arab leaders than for ethnic distributions.
Since then, Kurds have been divided between several states, in each of which they are minorities. Many Kurds have campaigned for independence or autonomy since then, but there has been no support by any of the regional governments or by outside powers for changes in regional boundaries. A sizable Kurdish diaspora exists in Western Europe that participates in agitation for Kurdish issues, but most of the governments in the Middle East have historically banned open Kurdish activism.
In Turkey, Iran, and Iraq, Kurdish guerrilla groups, known in the Kurdish culture as Peshmerga, fight against the government and have some control over the 36th parallel, in Northern Iraq.
Turkish Kurdistan
After the Treaty of Sèvres, there happened to be no claims of Kurdish independence. Mustafa Kemal, a keen pragmatist, often talked of a "Turco-Kurdish cooperation" during the years of Millî Mücadele ("National Struggle"). This was in accord with acts of Ankara government such as sending a team of instructors to train the Kurdish rebels who were then fighting against British troops under the banner of "Kingdom of Kurdistan". Then things began to change when Kemal and his cadres became the sole rulers of Turkey. None of their claims, not even linguistic and cultural ones, were met and Kurds began to be harshly oppressed by the Turkish State especially after the failed rebellion of Sheikh Seid in 1925. Turkish State propagandised that the rebels were "reactionary bandits financed by the British", without a slight reference to Kurdish rights or even Kurdish existence.
In 1930s, with the introduction of Türk Tarih Tezi ("Turkish Thesis of History") and other pseudo-scientific theories, which were products of the pro-Nazi leanings of current régime, oppression attained a more racist tone. Minister of Justice, Mahmut Esat Bozkurt thus spoke: "The ones living in Turkey but of no pure Turkish blood have merely one right: to serve the Turks as slaves!" Crushing of Dersim Rebellion of 1938 much characterised with atrocities and massacres of Turkish Army against civilian Kurdish population reflected this sort of ideological approach. Bombing of women and children who took refuge in the valley of Geliyê Zilan led to tragic incidents; a "Kurdish Guernica". Sabiha Gökçen, adopted daughter of Atatürk attended the bombings gaining the title of "first female combat pilot of the world", much exploited for a pompous propaganda of the "primary successes of the Republic". The irony was that Gökçen herself was an orphan of 1915 of concealed Armenian origin, now killing Kurds in the name of "Great Turkish Race".
Multi-cultural political life in Turkey was slightly different for Kurds. They were represented in the parliament and even in the cabinet as "parliamentarians from the East (an official substitute for the strictly banned word of "Kurdistan")" without the least mention of Kurdish origin and a single word in Kurdish. The attitude of the State was one of denial and oppression. Racist theories were always in vogue; a Beyaz Kitap (White Book, i.e. papers issued by the Army) sounded that Kurds were solely Turks, unfortunate enough to walk on the thickened layers of snow on the high mountains, an action, which produced a "kart-kurt" sound that gave them the euphemism "Kürt",albeit they were "pure Mountain Turks". Left and Right, two main political currents of Turkish politics, which became two hostile camps in 1970s were both content with the official policy of forced assimilation. Turkish right saw Kurds as "alien stock not to be deprived from happiness of being Turks (i.e. being incorporated into Turkish market)", Turkish left as "people under a feudal yoke so harsh that they can't even learn how to speak properly".
The theories on “Turkish origin of Kurds” were supported by both civilian and military authorities. Foreword of the book serving such a cause, Doğu İlleri ve Varto Tarihi (A History of Eastern Provinces and Varto) of M. Şerif Fırat, a local Kurdish agha, was written by General Cemal Gürsel, then the president of the Republic and the book was distributed by the Army. Academicians were encouraged to write treatises and promoted for improving these theses. One of this sort, Dr. Abdülhaluk Çay, held post as a cabinet minister. Research people Dr. İsmail Beşikçi, Dr. Fikret Başkaya who opposed official approaches were imprisoned allegedly for “pursuing separatist actions”.
The accents in Turkish usage by Kurds had always been a source of entertainment for the Turkish public. Another element to present a comic effect was their "backwardness" a formal label of comparing Kurds to "bears" (a symbol of rudeness). "Kurd" (Harputlu / Haso) was a main comic character in the Ottoman puppet theatre Karagöz and improvised spectacle Ortaoyunu. However, so were many personalities of different ethnic origin and social strata in the Empire. By the foundation of the Republic, the "Kurd" happened to be an incarnation of ignorance, rudeness, and backwardness, qualities any right-minded Turkish citizen should not bear. The all-time popular comic flicks, such as Kibar Feyzo and Davaro, often written and directed by leftist protagonists, ridiculed the Kurdish culture in the name of a so-called "anti-feudal criticism".
Iraqi Kurdistan
After the Gulf War, Iraqi Kurdistan had become a semi-independent political entity and today it is generally referred as Southern Kurdistan.
Iranian Kurdistan
In 1946, a short lived Soviet-created and Soviet-backed "Kurdish" entity in Iran was crushed by government forces when Soviet protective forces were withdrawn.
In the constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, all language minorities including Kurdish speakers have the right to teach the language in schools and have publications. There are various Kurdish books and newspapers published in Iran.
Footnotes
- According to the conservative World and I magazine. See: "Kurds Build Their Own Identity" (http://www.worldandi.com/subscribers/feature_detail.asp?num=24063).
See also
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